


It's a Test of Skill - not a present

by sparklight



Category: Transformers (Dreamwave Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 08:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/637155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starscream's left a lot of things behind, and mostly he doesn't care; it's all about going further, becoming what he wants to be, right? And he doesn't care about not spending Creation Day as it should be done either. Nope, not even a little bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's a Test of Skill - not a present

Starscream had early on decided the simplicity of Centurion and the quaint Aerial Defence stationed there for the Neutral Territories wasn't enough for him. The caretaker in the Matrix Ignition Chambers and the attached primary programming unit had huffed at him, muttered something about an overblown sense of ambition and a wrongly calibrated humility cerebro-node. A protoform sparked somewhere like _Centurion_ ought to have some logic and acceptance as to where and how far ambition could take it. Starscream had dismissed him, and left Centurion for Vos on his first Creation Day.

Vos, which had a full Aerospace Command and Military Education Academy in addition to its Aerial and Aerospace Defence. Now, _this_ was suitable for someone like Starscream, and thus it was to Vos that Starscream tied any significant sense of attachment and belonging. In Vos that Starscream spent the many coming Creation Days developing and proving his skill, and in Vos that the ever-voracious Seeker joined the Aerospace Vanguard, not satisfied with his theoretical Aerospace Commander title and position he graduated with. The Vanguard took him not just beyond the immediate Cybertronian... heh, aerospace, or even the system it was situated in, or to the normal patrolling routes of the nearest systems. The Vanguard took him beyond that, took him _exploring_ , and for a time that was... enough. But on his third return to Cybertron, which, coincidentally, coincided with another Creation Day, Starscream was getting... annoyed. While he spent that time with some of his old friends and acquaintances as Creation Days should be spent, enjoying a skilful display over and around the spires of Vos, Starscream's thoughts nonetheless turned around and to the frustrations tied to the practicalities of the Vanguard. There must be some other, more effective way of storing fuel and energy, of refuelling himself, his weapons and the equipment that was, sadly, necessary for Vanguard exploration.

That, then, led to Altihex and its Academy of Sciences. That was, of course, merely the collective name for the vast amount of institutes and disciplines spread out over the area the Academy counted at its own. All of them, however tangentially, connected to interstellar research. Not that it necessarily was _easy_ for Starscream to get in, given that he was a Defence-class flyer and not a _civilian_ one. Neither was it impossible though. It just required a bit of skill, tenacity and natural interest and inclination for what he was aiming for... And besides being interested in energy as that certainly pertained to his function in the defence of Cybertron generally, Starscream was nothing if not... talented. Attitudes and social opinion of who belonged where wouldn't stop him, as it never stopped any of those who had a mind to completely switch from the type of social class function they had been sparked into. Adaptability and change were the keys to their species, even if a society needed stability to thrive.

The only thing Starscream _might_ have admitted to missing from Vos and his earlier education and life, was that there was no way to spend Creation Day as he should be able to. There was no Aerial Defence stationed in Altihex, and even less any Defence close to the _Academy_. To further twist his circuits, the Urbane class mechs (and the random femme) who made up the population of the Academy had woefully _inadequate_ , not to say _pathetic_ ideas of how a Creation Day thought to be spent. Useless gifts that didn't further anything but material gain? Not that Starscream had anything against _gifts_ , material such or not, but that was not what Creation Day was for. And so the next uncounted number of those went unmarked, passing by as any other day, and Starscream felt the frustration crawl across his circuits, cerebro and otherwise. He would _atrophy_ like this!

*********

"... Ah, Starscream..?" Normally, Jetfire's even voice, even with that sort of hesitance threading through it, would've at this point in their friendship actually have been _welcome_ , something to distract himself with. He was even at the point where he could admit, to himself if nothing else, that it _was_ friendship. Today, however, it made Starscream growl and whirl around, a thunderous twist to his dark faceplates.

" _What_? I don't have time for idle wasting of my... of my _time_ , Jetfire!" Well, that could've absolutely been expressed more gracefully, but Starscream forged on and then just _glared_ up into Jetfire's faceplates. Jetfire, who mostly gave a level stare back before he squared his shoulders. There might have been a little wince in there somewhere, but it was so imperceptible as to be near invisible. The shifting shoulders, however, were obvious from the way a slight tremble ran down the cockpit and nosecone array on Jetfire's right arm, and the tail fin array on his left, and then the subtly changed angle they rested at.

"Come fly with me for a bit?" For all the hesitation in addressing him, there was no hesitation in _those_ words, and Starscream stared a bit, confused. This wasn't what he had expected, but if this was supposed to be some sort of _stupid gift_ for today--- Wait, he'd never told Jetfire when his Creation Day was, and Jetfire had never asked. Likewise, he'd never asked Jetfire. Actually, Starscream wasn't even sure _where_ Jetfire was from. Civilian airframes didn't have a few particular city-states they might come from given that they were "particular" enough to never be created more than one or maybe two at a time. Usually the city also varied due to necessity, need or the requests of a particular prospective caretaker.

Starscream stared, the stare narrowing into a glare, but Jetfire just stared back, optics narrowing a little as the seconds stretched into a full klik. Finally, Starscream huffed and conceded defeat. He could... maybe... spare the time. It wasn't as if he had anything he _ought to be doing_ now did he? And any lectures were not until later.

"Fine. If this turns out to be a waste of my time, you'll regret it." Giving Jetfire a last narrow look, Starscream engaged his thrusters and threw himself into the air, only _barely_ remembering to wait for Jetfire. Given that the air guardian had asked him, he _supposed_ Jetfire had somewhere in particular in mind, and thus would need to _show the way_. No matter how annoying that was.

Where Jetfire led them, however, had Starscream honestly stumped. He didn't fly towards the center of the Altihex continent, where the actual city of Altihex was located, or even in any of the directions that would eventually lead into one of the neighbouring city-states. No, instead Jetfire appeared to be flying south-east. Towards the continental cliff that ended in a gorge, on the opposite of which was the wide, uneven shore to the Rust Sea, a strip of wild, supposedly-untouched land that eastwards would lead to the Tagan Heights and westwards down into Kalis. 

Despite the confusion, Starscream had effortlessly fallen into flight with Jetfire slightly above him, even if he usually could be found diagonally in front of Jetfire's nosecone, instead of diagonally behind his tail fins. Nonetheless, Starscream found himself somewhat... soothed by the rush of wind past his plating, Jetfire's shadow lowering the surface temperature of his plating where it fell with half a degree, and, perhaps more importantly, though more _annoyingly_...

The faint, static crackle of their fields sliding against each other, stretching out towards the other during the few, brief moments they slid out of perfect alignment in their flight "formation". Starscream couldn't _believe_ he'd let the idiot glitch in close enough, and for _long enough_ that this step of their fields meshing together was just another step of flying together. Jetfire's slightly heavier and not so much still as _stubborn_ field fitting much too well against Starscream's brighter, more mercurial one.

He just wasn't sure what to _think_ about that.

*********

They landed only hics from the continental cliff's edge and the gorge beyond and beneath that, with tiny, delicate crystal formations in blue and pink dotting the ground at their feet. The brush-like crystal clusters were no more than the length of their fingers or even less and could fit in the palm of a minibot's hand. They were the first proof of the closeness to the Rust Sea and its innate trace energon content, which, when it evaporated and then solidified on the shores, left beautiful but inefficiently low-energon content crystals. What wildlife there was fed on it while Cybertronians left it alone or used the crystal clusters to decorate with, the size of them going from the tiny ones on the southern Altihex edge, to precarious reeds taller than Iacon's Omega Guardians along the bays dotting the Hydrax Plateau.

Starscream had barely transformed before he started to pace, agitated and displeased. He usually locked himself up in his dorm or in the lab on Creation Day, as flying usually reminded him of Vos, and that was just... not helpful. He shouldn't, _didn't_ need this. Friends, acquaintances, people he knew were _assets_ to use, nothing more, nothing less.

Jetfire coming up beside him made Starscream twitch, the earlier thought shrinking quietly in his processor under the oblivious gaze from blue optics.

"Well?" Starscream scowled and folded his arms over his cockpit as Jetfire looked away towards the sea-ward horizon, frowning slightly at the faint, reddish flux-haze that revealed where the Rust Sea was.

"Your... er, Creation Day is today." It was a statement, no matter the stumble or Jetfire not looking at him, and Starscream _stared_. How... When had he... How did Jetfire know?!

"What's it to you? If you think I'm interested in one of those _idiotic_ gifts you have another thing coming! How do you even _know_!?" He hadn't intended to say... anything of that, except the gift comment, and the red glow from his optics deepened to carmine as he growled at Jetfire, who finally turned to face him again.

"You mentioned Centurion once, in passing, while talking about all the people who've tried to _stop_ you. And the rest of your records are official as part of your Academy attendance, you know. It wasn't hard to match up your particular spark ignition date with the visit of the Prime to the Neutral Territories," Jetfire said with a shrug, glancing up and down the length of Starscream's frame as he spoke. "And since you're a Defence-class flyer, it was obvious Centurion was where you started, even if you clearly moved to Vos later. It might have been harder if the Academy records weren't official, or if you hadn't mentioned Centurion... One or the other, but the _point_ that I---"

"Yes, Jetfire, what is the _point_ of all this? What are we even doing out here? I _do_ have other things to do, you know." Which might, or might not be entirely true, but Starscream would hardly reveal that. "Congratulations, you found out where I was sparked and when my Creation Day is, _how does this matter at all_?" Starscream said with a sneer, the bright sunlight washing off the harsh edges but doing nothing for his _tone_. Jetfire shifted on his feet and then just _frowned_ at him. Starscream's sneer deepened and then he looked away, engine revving in short, snappy waves.

"We're out here because the nearest population center from our location is the Academy and then the Twin Sparks Solar Research Center to the east." Jetfire folded his arms over his chest, though there was an aborted movement right before he did that up towards his mask, as if he'd been about to pull it down over his faceplates and then decided not to. "... As long as you dial down the strength of your cannons enough, the sunlight and flux-haze will... er, blot the lasers out. However, I'd hope you would do that anyway, given that I don't have Defence-class grade armour, even if I am made to handle atmospheric entry." Jetfire had been looking away through most of that, but then looked back at him and Starscream couldn't _quite_ school his expression.

What was... He couldn't _honestly_ be saying what he seemed to be saying. Right? Jetfire hadn't _really_ bothered to look how things were done within the Cybertronian Defence and the Defence-class mechs, had he? Not that it was in any way hard to find any of that out, indeed, they all shared a low-level awareness of different customs, but... It wasn't as if anyone ever took any note of that. It was merely part of the primary programming to ensure a basic common knowledge of all the parts of their varied society and how things did, or did not fit together. 

Social cohesiveness, if you were to be cynical about it, and still that didn't take into account any differences city-states between, which existed as well.

"Jetfire..." He wasn't even sure what he was going to say, and the edge in Starscream's voice was blunter than it seemed. Jetfire just cocked his helm, quietly gazing down at Starscream for a moment and then a small smile slowly curled about his lips.

"We wouldn't want your skills to _deteriorate_ now would we?"

"As if an _Urbane-class_ flyer could ever match _my_ skill," Starscream scoffed, jerking a hand up to point at Jetfire. And really, it was probably a miracle Jetfire's expression merely narrowed a bit, his smirk turning slightly sharper, even if there might have been a twitch to the arrays on his arms. Starscream refused to acknowledge the slight flick and backwards tilt of his wings at that.

"You've flown _with_ me, Starscream, but you haven't really flown _against_ me, and trust me... I'm not about to let you _shoot me_." Jetfire shrugged, then, the glow from his optics dimming slightly as he frowned and rubbed the side of the intake vents for his boosters. "I can't really assist with the other part of this, considering I'm not... ah, _armed_ in any way, but perhaps---"

Starscream interrupted Jetfire with a huff and stalked over, slapping the nosecone on his arm.

"Get up there if you're doing this. You couldn't hit the broad side of an Omega Guardian even if you _were_ armed anyway." Despite the words, Starscream's hand on the nosecone lingered, and Jetfire's soft laughter vibrated between them. Taking a step back, Jetfire opened his mouth, then closed it at the look Starscream gave him, especially when the Seeker's optics narrowed as something occured to him.

"You're giving me a gift. I can't _believe_ you're somehow managing to do both that and do this _properly_." Starscream stabbed a finger into Jetfire's abdominal plating, not sure if he should be annoyed, amused or incredulous. Jetfire's expression briefly actually turned _abashed_ before it sharpened into a tiny smirk.

That was accompanied by another undecided flare of annoyance/amusement/incredulity; Jetfire's sometimes contradictory protoform-like sharpness. It was there, just not... fully formed yet. Given enough time, it might turn deadly, perhaps.

"Creation Day doesn't come every year, now does it? And it's all about giving you what you'd _want_ \---"

"I do know how gift giving works, you overgrown drone, even if we don't do it on _Creation Day_." Starscream huffed as he also took a step away, widening the distance between them and shooing at Jetfire. "Well? Move it!"

Giving a slightly sloppy and definitely amused rather than properly respectful salute Jetfire tossed himself skyward, transforming in the air. Starscream followed the large white and red jet for a moment, slowly shaking his helm. At least he'd done the salute mostly properly, the arm not overly angled and his hand actually centered over his spark chamber, hand fisted and not laying flat open against the chestplates. It was literally vorns since someone had properly _saluted_ him, even with a lack of intent behind it.

_Maybe_ he had the time to look up a thing or two about his foolish partner, but it wouldn't surprise Starscream if Jetfire was from somewhere like _Nova Cronum_ \--- His thoughts were disrupted by Jetfire making a low pass over him, a rush of air exploding past and the roar of jet engines vibrating over his plating. Starscream's smirk was sharp as he followed Jetfire into the air and he hadn't even completed his transformation before washed-out pink lasers streaked across the sky. High noon and the sunlight from the two suns' combined pale golden light in conjunction with the red flux-haze, turned faintly pink now, almost made the barely stunning-strength lasers no more than bright, uncoloured flashes against the golden-tinted blue sky.

The two jets dodged and weaved around each other, the larger one insistently avoiding the streaks of could-be dangerous laser fire as it they _were_ deadly. Every now and then, however, either of the two flyers would suddenly approach, too close for effectively shooting at. For a few moments, they'd fly like that, twirling around a common axis and close enough their armour nearly brushed before suddenly breaking apart, pale pink fire chasing the bigger one... away or after, it was hard to tell.

**Author's Note:**

> A present for a friend. They know who they are!


End file.
